CPL theories begin! ...and flying ends.

The CPL theory course begin next monday on the 27th. After that it's time to stay in the ground and sit in the class everyday listening to lectures. I predict it can at first be quite hard to just sit in the class after all this flying. On the other hand it's quite nice to be able to sit inside in the warm as outside temperature decreases all the time and the weather gets worse.

We got our books and material in advance. In the We will use the blue ATPL-series by Oxford Aviation Academy. Some parts of the subjects will not yet be covered in the CPL course but I think most of the contents will become familiar. I'm actually quite horrified by the amount of stuff to learn, just got to cope with it!

So there's fourteen different books and the ones most important regarding working life are easily recognizable by their small number of pages :)


Oxford JAA ATPL -series:

Volume 1: Air Law
Volume 2: Aircraft Knowledge 1 - Airframes & Systems
Volume 3: Aircraft Knowledge 2 - Electrics & Electronics
Volume 4: Aircraft Knowledge 3 - Piston and Gas Turbine Engines
Volume 5: Aircraft Knowledge 4 - Instrumentation
Volume 6: Flight Planning 1 - Mass & Balance, Performance
Volume 7: Flight Planning 2 - Flight Planning & Monitoring
Volume 8: Human Performance
Volume 9: Meteorology
Volume 10: Navigation 1 - General Navigation
Volume 11: Navigation 2 - Radio Navigation
Volume 12: Operational Procedures
Volume 13: Principles of Flight
Volume 14: Communications

Summary of the PPL flight training period

Now it's the time to just believe that flying is over for this year. Weather keeps getting worse and in the last week almost no-one seems to have gotten in the air. Luckily, almost the whole PPL-phase is now completed and actually only two solo cross-country flights will have to be postponed to next year.

A rainy day and an Antonov AN-2

So, the first flight training period is now over and here's a quick summary of the flying hours I logged during the training:

Total time: 48h 25min
PIC: 12h 19min
Dual: 36h 06min

C152: 48h 25min

Take-offs by day: 159
Landings by day: 159

Sensory illusions, cross-country adventures and the end of the flight period...

Autumn weather has taken over Finland and chances to get in the sky get slimmer every day. Lately I've been having quite a lot of free time. Usually you can just continue sleeping in early morning after gazing out of the window and seeing some BKN003 SHRA weather.. Alternatively you'll wake up when your flight instructor texts you that the day is cancelled.

Ready for takeoff at runway 36, I miss this kind of weather :)

Some flying has happened though, including something new to me. The PPL flight training includes so called basic instrument flights, which are meant to teach the student pilot how to make a co-ordinated 180 degree out of a cloud in the case that you accidentally end up in bad weather. This is the sole purpose of the trainining and by no means it gives any competence on being able to actually fly in instrument conditions on purpose. Well, that training is also ahead of me later, when the IFR course begins.

We simulated instrument conditions by using special goggles that restrict the view outside of the windows and forces you to focus on your instruments. It was interesting to notice how much mental capacity is required even for the most basic of maneuvres when the visual horizon is taken away from you. Even straight and level flight requires much more work than usual, since the tennis ball -sized artificial horizon isn't as easy a reference than its natural big brother. I also experienced a somatogyric illusion when all of a sudden I felt a strong sense of turning left even though I was flying straight ahead. You almost start to correct this falsely perceived attitude before realizing that the artificial horizon shows that you're flying straight and level.

Coming in for landing!

One flight that's also behind me is the classic "Turku-Tampere" flight, which is the traditional way of flying that mandatory flight to controlled aerodromes that's in the PPL syllabus. The flight planning for this trip took almost three times as much time compared to the last cross-country flight we did to Hyvinkää and Lahti. I had to plan three flights: From Malmi to Turku, from there to Tampere and then back to Malmi. In addition, this was the first time I had to plan a route using flight levels (FL75) so some time was consumed in counting Top of Climb and Top of Descent -points.

Me flying the Charlie Alfa Papa, another successful landing completed!

Something funny happened to me the day before as I forgot to check our crew web in the afternoon, noticing the information about a cross-country flight late in the evening therefore having no time to plan the flight. So I woke up at two'o'clock in order to be at the airport at three in the morning. Planning takes time and I didn't want the flight to be cancelled. Actually it was quite epic to be at school in complete darkness, doing pre-flight checks with a flashlight...